The New York Times Strands puzzle for April 22 isn’t messing around. It’s Earth Day, and the puzzle makers decided to make a statement: love your mother. The theme word running across the entire board is CONSERVATION, which honestly feels perfectly timed given what’s happening in the world right now.
If you’re stuck on today’s puzzle, you’re not alone. Some of these answers can be genuinely tricky to unscramble, especially if you’re not immediately seeing how the letters connect. That’s where hints come in handy.
Finding Your Way Through the Grid
The spangram CONSERVATION starts with the C in the far-left column, four letters down, then winds up and over to complete the theme. It’s one of those moments where once you see it, you wonder how you missed it. That’s usually how Strands works.
The nonspangram answers will reveal themselves as you find regular words on the board. Remember, you only need to spot any four-letter words or longer to help unlock the puzzle’s theme words. Three solid finds will trigger a hint from the game itself, so you don’t have to be perfect right out of the gate.
If You Need the Full Answers
Look, sometimes you just want to finish and move on. We get it. The complete answer set is available in today’s Strands guide on CNET’s puzzle hints page, alongside solutions for Wordle, the Mini Crossword, and Connections if you’re working through the whole suite.
This isn’t the first time Strands has tackled tricky themes either. Past puzzles featuring dated slang (“PHAT” still hurts to think about) and marine biology deep cuts have proven that the puzzle loves testing your cultural knowledge and obscure vocabulary. Today’s Earth Day celebration sits right in that sweet spot between accessible and genuinely challenging.
The real satisfaction here isn’t just solving the puzzle. It’s that moment when CONSERVATION clicks into place and you realize the entire grid was telling you something worth knowing about.
